Preliminary Task: Model consent forms

Here are the people that were apart of my focus group and took part in my survey along with my model for my magazine front cover and contents page:

    

Preliminary Task: Deconstruction of real media texts

Before I start to create my front cover and contents page for my music magazine I wanted to deconstruct a few music magazine covers to understand what techniques I'll need to use. I will incorporate basic techniques such as features/cover lines, puff, pull quote, anchor, masthead and hopefully experiment with more. The aim of my magazine cover and contents page is to present a professional and appropriate level of representation of what I think a teen 'Hip Hop' artist would look like. Here are the 2 music magazine cover pages I deconstructed:

Preliminary Task: Magazine details

Upon contemplating what genre and magazine name I should pick, I came to a conclusion to choose the genre Hip Hop and my magazine name will be 'Prodigy' and I will direct this genre towards my target audience of 16+ year olds. The names I spent time considering were: Apex, Silver, Complex, Balance, Empire, Inferno, Logic and Power. I chose the name 'Prodigy' because the meaning of it is a person with exceptions abilities and traits, therefore I thought it would appeal more to my target audience. I also found out that 'Prodigy' is a name of a music festival and music group, so it does in fact have music links to it. The genres I was considering choosing were either Hip Hop, Pop or R&B/Soul.

Upon experimenting with many different font types, I finally ended up with 3 main fonts that I will be using on the front cover and contents page of my magazine. I found these fonts on Microsoft and began practising my writing, constantly checking if it suited my front cover and aesthetic well. I may also add in one more font for my contents page, one that is somewhat similar to the 'Century Gothic' font.

The features I am going to use on the front cover will be 3 of the following 4:

1. J Hus Common Sense Exclusive 
2. Hip Hops Guilty Pleasures: Kojo Funds, Rihanna, Drake
3. Official Album Charts: Gang Signs & Prayer, Digital Druglord, More Life, Ctrl
4. Top 5 Men in Music: Post Malone, Bryson Tiller, J. Cole, Drake, J Hus

Preliminary Task: Shot list/Model styles

After carefully planning the fonts, colour scheme and other little details of the magazine, I have come up with 6 different shot types, most of which are medium close ups. I intend on photographing the models full face and hair, showing some area of the shoulders. I want my model to look somewhat between intimidating and expressionless, I might also consider doing multiple low and high angle shots just to experiment. Below each shot I wrote a brief description of how I want the model to pose and look. I intend on showing an 'ordinary' yet 'intense' and 'urban' person that my target audience (16+ year olds) can relate to and find attractive. I am currently considering to choose numbers 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 as the final poses for my model.

Preliminary Task: Focus Group

I have a rough idea about what music genre I am considering using when creating my front cover and contents page so I decided to choose 5 individuals I think my magazine would appeal to and sat them down to ask them a series of questions to help me make a plan for my magazine. The focus group included pupils aged 16 and 17. Initially I had planned on surveying a wider age group, but in the end, I had various opinions given to me which made up for it.

 I chose to write down what my focus group said on paper then created a mind map of each question I asked showing their individual answers. Some had similar opinions as others which means when designing and planning the layout, I will take the most mentioned opinions into consideration first. Here are the mind maps I made:

Preliminary Task: Reader profile

I have been assigned to create a reader profile, this is an imaginary person I have created that I think my target audience may be similar to.


Aiden is a 17-year-old boy who attends college, he does 4 A-Levels which conclude of Engineering, English Language, Business Studies and Psychology. Aiden wants a career in Business and/or Psychology. He enjoys playing football, listening to music, playing on his Xbox, watching TV and hanging around with friends. He dislikes doing homework and cleaning. On a regular basis, when walking to college, Aiden listens to music, his favorite genre's are Hip Hop, Grime and R&B/soul. He usually listens to UK music, but some of his favorite artists are American. Some of his favorite artists are Bryson Tiller, Rihanna, Post Malone, J Huss, Kojo Funds, Lotto Boyz and 410. When in a lesson, his teacher allows the class to listen to radio stations and his favorite is Capital Xtra. Aiden often reads music magazines such as 'Vibe' and 'Billboard' when they show exclusive artists or artists that he listens to. He likes Hip Hop and Grime most because it has a certain appeal to it as he is able to choose from a variety of different song choices depending on his mood.

Preliminary Task: Introducing the brief

'To create the front cover and contents page of a new music magazine using Photoshop.'

With this brief, I intend on creating a front cover and contents page of a music magazine using the 'Hip Pop' genre as my muse. I usually listen to a lot of Grime, Pop and Hip-hop artists such as; Yxng Bane, Rihanna, Daniel Ceasar, Drake, Post Malone, H.E.R, Bryson Tiller, J Hus, Not3s, Kojo Funds, Geko, Maleek Berry and Lotto Boyzz. I feel as if the music that appeals to me is a very inclusive genre and therefore can be widely used. Initially, I intended to create a very sophisticated cover and contents page that was similar to most music magazines such as 'Vibe' and 'Billboard'. I intend on incorporating the genre I am doing into the design of my front cover by adding 'edgy' tones and perhaps using a sharp high toned pose for my model to make it somewhat obvious of the genre I am using. I also intend on using coloured layovers when photographing my model to make it look professional and eye-catching.

Here is a mood board of some of the magazines I will be using as inspiration to create my magazine front cover and contents page: